Da Gama is recognized as one of the pioneering sea navigators in the Europe to East sea route.
He was initially buried in India, but his remains were transferred to Portugal and interred in the Monastery of the Hieronymites. Vasco da Gama died three months after his third voyage to India in 1524 after contracting malaria. For his contributions, he was awarded titles and honors such as the Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, Persia and all the Orient as Chief of the Portuguese India Armadas, the Second Viceroy of India, and as the First Count of Vidigueira. He played a significant role in establishing Portugal as an early colonizing power along the east coast of Africa. His voyage encouraged the Portuguese crown to establish trade posts on the eastern coast of Africa with a view of maintaining Portugal’s trade routes. Vasco da Gama is widely recognized for mapping the route to India which opened up trade between Portugal and India. Poor relations with the leaders in Calicut kept him from successfully signing a trade treaty between India and Portugal. Food supplies also posed a problem to his crew as they spoilt fast. He made two other voyages to India before his death in 1524.ĭuring his voyages, da Gama faced challenges such as unpredictable weather changes, attacks from other sailors, hostilities in the towns he stopped by, and the death of his crew members especially due to scurvy and loss of vessels. He abandoned his mission and returned to Portugal having failed at securing a trade treaty in Calicut. India welcomed him warmly, but soon the relations were spoilt by the cheap gifts he offered in India and conflicts with Muslim traders. The fleet made stops at Mozambique, Mombasa and the friendly Malindi before moving on to Calicut on the coast of India in May 1498. Da Gama began his voyage on July 8, 1497, with a crew of 170 men and four ships. During this time, John II, the king of Portugal, sought a way to break through the spice trade between Europe and Asia. His first mission was to map a sea route to India via the southern coast of Africa. Vasco da Gama spent most of his life from around the age of twenty as a sea navigator. He married a woman of noble birth after his first voyage and had six sons and one daughter. He joined his father’s Order of Santiago around 1480. He is thought to have learned mathematics and navigation at Evora town. He was born to Estevao da Gama and Isabel Sodre in the period between 14 along with five brothers and one sister. Early Lifeĭetails of Vasco da Gama’s early life are not precisely known. Da Gama sailed with a crew of 170 and returned with only 54 - most of his men died from diseases like scurvy. By the time he returned from his first voyage to India in 1499, he had spent 300 days at sea, more than two years from home, and had covered a distance of 24,000 miles. All rights reserved.Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese navigator and explorer who became the first person to sail directly from Europe to India. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Cliff, Holy War: How Vasco da Gama's Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations (2011) and The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco Da Gama (2012). Hart, Sea Route to the Indies (1950, repr. Jayne, Vasco da Gama and His Successors (1910, repr. Corrêa, The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama and His Viceroyalty (1869, repr. See A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama (1898), the journal of one of Gama's subordinates G. Gama's voyage is the subject of Camões's epic The Lusiads.
In 1524 he was sent back to India as viceroy, but he died soon after his arrival.
He was harsh in his methods and was not as good an administrator as many of the Portuguese captains who later went to the East, but he was the first, and he was honored with many tributes and the title of count of Vidigueria. With this force he attempted to establish Portuguese power in Indian waters and sought to secure the submission of a number of chiefs on the African coast. Gama dictated the instructions for Cabral's voyage (1500–1502) to India, and in 1502 he himself led a fleet of 20 ships on his second India voyage. This voyage opened up a way for Europe to reach the wealth of the Indies, and immediately Portugal gained great riches from the spice trade out of it ultimately grew the Portuguese Empire. With four vessels, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope, passed the easternmost point reached by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, continued up the east coast of Africa to Malindi, and sailed across the uncharted Indian Ocean to Calicut. His epochal voyage (1497–99) was made at the order of Manuel I. väsh´kō dä gä´mə, c.1469–1524, Portuguese navigator, the first European to journey by sea to India.